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This study aims to understand how online weight loss services could help customers achieve a durable change. The particular focus is on exploring the roles of value co-creation and well-being outcomes in reinforcing the transformative value potential, which is argued to be realized as customers’ intentions to continue a healthier lifestyle after the service period has ended.

Data was collected from the participants of an online weight loss service (n = 498), and a conceptual research model was tested using structural equation modelling.

The results imply that compliance with the guidelines and social support are two value co-creation activities that can influence the well-being outcomes of transformative services (i.e. perceived behavioral control and satisfaction with one’s achievements). These well-being outcomes help attain the transformative value potential of online weight loss services. However, the actual weight loss affected the transformative value potential only through customers’ satisfaction with their achievements as a subjective well-being outcome.

This study provides insight into the transformative value potential of services in the weight loss context. This study contributes to the transformative service research by focusing on the role of online services in reinforcing a durable change through the co-creation of value and improvements in customers’ well-being.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the intensive lifestyle modification program on weight and metabolic syndrome risk reduction in rural obese women who have no underlying non-communicable diseases in Thailand.

A randomized controlled trial was conducted. In total, 60 healthy obese women aged 30-50 years were recruited and randomly assigned to either the intervention (n=30) or control (n=30) group after health screening. Tailored nutritional counseling, health education and exercise training were included in the lifestyle modification program. Behavioral modification techniques were also incorporated. The intervention was conducted weekly for the first eight weeks, then biweekly until week 16.

The student’s t-test was used to compare mean difference between groups. The total weight loss in the intervention group (n=29) was significantly higher, 7.6±2.9 kg, compared with the control group (n=30) who lost 0.7±1.4 kg (p<0.001). The intervention group lost weight 10.2 percent from baseline which was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.001). Systolic and diastolic blood pressures, fasting blood sugar, and waist circumference were significantly improved. Triglyceride levels slightly improved while high density lipoprotein cholesterol was slightly lowered. The intervention group showed a statistical reduction in abnormal components of metabolic syndrome compared with the control group, with the relative risk=0.24, 95% confidence interval=0.072-0.791, and p=0.018.

Compatibility of the program activities conducted by a health professional who had achieved healthy weight loss and accepted as a role model was a key to achieving effective weight loss and metabolic syndrome risk reduction in obese women in rural areas. The program should be integrated into the conventional practice of health care centers.

This study aimed to assess the influence of the community-based campaign on weight loss and healthy lifestyle adoption among Bahrain's adult population.

A cross -sectional self-reported online questionnaire completed in February 2021. The survey evaluated the impact of the community-based campaign health program which includes (exercise, diet plan and psychological eating behavior) weight reduction using social media platforms. The authors employed data from young and middle-aged healthy adults (n = 842) between the ages of 18-55 years, of both sexes. The intervention group (n = 842) was made up of the supporters of the voluntary community initiative called Obesity does not Suit Me (n = 194), and the control group (n = 648) was made up of non-followers of the campaign.

The study showed a statistically significant difference among the followers of the community-based campaign health program in the following parameters: 3.90-4.23 kg less, 1.46-1.59 difference in BMI and 0.05-0.06 WHR. All changes were of low effect size.

Diet and exercise had significant impact on weight, BMI and WHR among the followers of the community campaign. However, more research is required for sponsorship to increase the motivation and rewards for the community campaign.

Addressing overweight in the population is an important public health challenge. Use of social media such as Facebook has been proposed as a platform to deliver weight loss interventions to influence behavior change to tackle obesity. The purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of weight loss education and support interventions delivered through online social media (experimental group) vs conventional method (control group).

The six-month experimental study comprised of a four-month intervention and a two-month follow up from May 2016 to October 2016. All faculties in a university were randomly selected into the experimental or control group. Then, undergraduate students (n=66) were randomly recruited from each faculty into the corresponding groups (experimental group=33 and control group=33). Both groups received health education and support services through either Facebook or the offline support system. The mean differences of main outcomes including body mass index (BMI) and waist to height ratio (WHtR) between groups at baseline and fourth month and baseline and sixth month were compared using t-test.

The results show those in the experimental group had significantly better outcomes in term of BMI and WHtR at the end of four-month intervention with the mean difference (95% CI) at 0.7 (0.1, 1.3) and 0.01 (0.00, 0.01), respectively. The differences at the end of the study, however, became insignificant.

The health education and support services through Facebook can be used in a weight loss promotion program for BMI and WHtR reduction. On a larger scale to replace conventional programs, a long-term continuous measure is needed.

This study aims to determine the influence of bruise damage generated from the impact test on the physical, chemical and nutritional responses of tomato fruit.

The impact loading was applied from different heights. The impact energies for 20, 40 and 60 cm drop heights were 129.59, 259.18 and 388.77 mJ, respectively. The injured samples were kept for 48 hours at low (10 °C) and ambient (22 °C) storage temperatures. Weight loss, firmness, color, total soluble solids (TSS), lycopene and carotenoids were measured before the impact test (day 0) and after 48 hours of the impact and storage.

The drop height of 60 cm and storage at 22 °C showed the highest values in the bruised area. The impact from the 60 cm drop height significantly reduced weight, lightness, yellowness, hue, firmness, lycopene and carotenoids, particularly at 22 °C storage condition. Redness (a*) and color index (CI) showed a remarkable increase (p < 0.05) at 22 °C on tomatoes affected from the highest impact level (388.77 mJ) after 48 hours of storage. No pronounced significance was seen between TSS and drop heights. This study has confirmed that tomato bruising for a short-term storage period induces physiological changes at different storage temperature conditions.

The study can confirm the crucial role of inappropriate handling in increasing fresh produce loss within short-term storage. Also, this research can be considered as a guideline for transporters, handlers, processors, distributors and horticulture researchers in the fresh produce supply chain during postharvest operations.

This paper generalizes the quadratic framework introduced by Le Courtois (2016) and Sumpf (2018), to obtain new credibility premiums in the balanced case, i.e. under the balanced squared error loss function. More precisely, the authors construct a quadratic credibility framework under the net quadratic loss function where premiums are estimated based on the values of past observations and of past squared observations under the parametric and the non-parametric approaches, this framework is useful for the practitioner who wants to explicitly take into account higher order (cross) moments of past data.

In the actuarial field, credibility theory is an empirical model used to calculate the premium. One of the crucial tasks of the actuary in the insurance company is to design a tariff structure that will fairly distribute the burden of claims among insureds. In this work, the authors use the weighted balanced loss function (WBLF, henceforth) to obtain new credibility premiums, and WBLF is a generalized loss function introduced by Zellner (1994) (see Gupta and Berger (1994), pp. 371-390) which appears also in Dey et al. (1999) and Farsipour and Asgharzadhe (2004).

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest and the funding information is not applicable.

This work is motivated by the following: quadratic credibility premium under the balanced loss function is useful for the practitioner who wants to explicitly take into account higher order (cross) moments and new effects such as the clustering effect to finding a premium more credible and more precise, which arranges both parts: the insurer and the insured. Also, it is easy to apply for parametric and non-parametric approaches. In addition, the formulas of the parametric (Poisson–gamma case) and the non-parametric approach are simple in form and may be used to find a more flexible premium in many special cases. On the other hand, this work neglects the semi-parametric approach because it is rarely used by practitioners.

There are several examples of actuarial science (credibility).

In this paper, the authors used the WBLF and a quadratic adjustment to obtain new credibility premiums. More precisely, the authors construct a quadratic credibility framework under the net quadratic loss function where premiums are estimated based on the values of past observations and of past squared observations under the parametric and the non-parametric approaches, this framework is useful for the practitioner who wants to explicitly take into account higher order (cross) moments of past data.

The South African wool industry is integral to the country's agricultural sector, particularly sheep farming and wool production. Small-scale farmers play a vital role in this industry and contribute to employment and food security in rural communities. However, these farmers face numerous challenges, including a lack of funding, poor farming practices and difficulty selling their wool at fair prices. This study aims to address these challenges, the University of Free State launched a wool value chain project for small-scale farmers.

In this project, one of the studies conducted assessed the effectiveness of different detergents suitable for traditional wool scouring methods for small-scale farmers who lack access to sophisticated machinery. The investigation was conducted by scouring 160 wool samples using three different detergents and filtered water as a control. The wool samples were then evaluated for their cleanliness, brightness and fibre properties through a combination of scanning electron microscopy, spectrophotometry and statistical analysis at different scouring times (3, 10, 15 and 20 min, respectively).

The results showed that the combination of scouring time and the type of scouring solution used could significantly impact wool quality. It was found that using a combination of standard detergent or Woolwash as a scouring solution with a scouring time of 10–15 min resulted in the best outcome in terms of fibre property, wool colour and scouring loss.

This study demonstrated that traditional wool scouring methods could be an option for small-scale farmers and anyone who want to learn how to scour wool without expensive machinery to make wool products.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the appropriateness of equal weights estimation (sumscores) and the application of the composite equivalence index (CEI) vis-à-vis differentiated indicator weights produced by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The authors rely on prior literature as well as empirical illustrations and a simulation study to assess the efficacy of equal weights estimation and the CEI.

The results show that the CEI lacks discriminatory power, and its use can lead to major differences in structural model estimates, conceals measurement model issues and almost always leads to inferior out-of-sample predictive accuracy compared to differentiated weights produced by PLS-SEM.

In light of its manifold conceptual and empirical limitations, the authors advise against the use of the CEI. Its adoption and the routine use of equal weights estimation could adversely affect the validity of measurement and structural model results and understate structural model predictive accuracy. Although this study shows that the CEI is an unsuitable metric to decide between equal weights and differentiated weights, it does not propose another means for such a comparison.

The results suggest that researchers and practitioners should prefer differentiated indicator weights such as those produced by PLS-SEM over equal weights.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide a comprehensive assessment of the CEI’s usefulness. The results provide guidance for researchers considering using equal indicator weights instead of PLS-SEM-based weighted indicators.